Venezuela: Caracas – Collectivos Paramilitary Groups

Collectivos are armed paramilitary groups that operate with impunity and tacit state support all around Caracas and beyond. Often more powerful and better armed than police, they were originally created by Hugo Chavez as organized, armed networks to act as enforcers for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) as defenders of the Bolivarian Revolution. While initially acting as intimidation for political opponents and suppressing anti-government expression, under Nicolas Madura these evolved into paramilitary organizations that effectively controlled the city neighborhoods, suppressed political dissent, and managed local resource distribution. Locals largely acknowledge that their power brought down the crime:, drug trade, and urban gang-fare that plagued Caracas for years, but also brutally suppressed any opposition movement with rough execution-style intimidation and brutal extra-judicial force. We came across and visited one of the offices – Foundation Collective Resistance and Rebellion – packed with leftist propaganda and slogans: “Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever… Anti-imperialists”, “This revolution is to die for”, and so on. The collection of idols and leaders displayed almost reads like “world’s most wanted dictators, dead and alive”: Putin, Chavez, Maduro, Xi, Chе, Ho Chi Min, Soleimani, Arafat…